Becoming Budget Savvy: Salon inspired hair for under $20!

Being a new mommy means lots of new expenses. I am a firm believer that no matter what your financial state is you should do your best to save money in any way that you can. With that said, I am on a new mission to become super budget savvy. I have started looking at all aspects of my life and am beginning to be more wise with where money goes. One of the most obvious places I found that money is wasted is going to the salon. Now, don't get me wrong I love getting my hair done. I also love going to the salon. However, when I am having to get my hair done every 4-6 weeks because of how fast my hair is growing (thank you prenatal vitamins) it just isn't realistic. So, with the help of my mom I went to Sally's Beauty Supply to pick out color.

 When we picked the color we tried to find the closest match to my natural hair color. We landed on Color Brilliance 6A-6.1 Dark Ash Blonde. We also got Sensitive Scalp 20 volume developer. It's important to pay attention to what number of developer you need for the result you're looking for. If you're unsure you can look at the instructions in the color box for a guide, or you can just ask an employee :)
Other supplies we bought were a bowl to mix color, a brush and a comb. We also bought foils but didn't end up using them. We did use saran wrap we had at home.

Now to the color! Here is what my before hair looked like (yikes!) 

I had my mom apply the color. I am really fortunate that I have someone I can trust to experiment with my hair :) First, she sectioned my hair using the clips we bought. 

Then she used the brush, starting at the root, and brushed down. We were attempting to do a subtle ombre look. I know typically when doing ombre you are applying color to the ends but since my hair was blonde at the bottom already we thought it would be easier to darken my roots. This is a youtube video on applying balayage ombre and we found it really helpful.  

This is what it looked like when she was done putting all the color on. The box said to allow 25-35 minutes to process and we decided to rinse it out at 20 minutes. Here is the before and after: 

I was really excited with the turn out! I couldn't believe that we were able to get natural looking highlights and color for only $20 (WAY cheaper than the $150 I would typically spend at the salon)!!!!!!! Not to mention when it's time to color again we wont have to buy all of the mixing supplies only the color. I am super happy with the way the color turned out and I am definitely excited about getting one step closer to becoming budget savvy :)